Archive for May 2016

Q1/16 revenue at Amazon was a staggering $29 billion and net income was $513 million. More interesting, Amazon Web Services (AWS) revenue jumped 64% to $2.6 billion, 9% of total revenue, but 67% of operating income and 56% of operating profits (the amount of revenue that remains after accounting for variable expenses and fixed operating…

While the seasonally adjusted Q1/16 home ownership rate of 63.6% slipped from 63.7% in Q4/15, the long decline in homeownership is over. In Q1/15, the rate was 63.8%, just 0.2 percentage points above where it is now, its smallest January to January decline in six years. Moreover, the most recent decline is occurring despite two-thirds…

Q1/16 GDP growth came in at a very lackluster 0.5%, its worst performance since Q1/14. Since 2010, lousy Q1 GDP growth has been the norm, averaging just 0.8%. The good news; consumer spending grew a passable 1.9% and new-home construction and home remodeling rose 14.8%. By contrast, business investment and exports continued to perform very…